Denim group Kontoor Brands, owner of Wrangler and Lee, has published its first forest-derived materials (FDM) policy, which sets standards for the company’s purchasing and use of sustainable forest materials and products.
Until May, the group was part of VF Corp, which published its FDM policy in 2017.
Global jeans brand Wrangler has started its new The Wrangler Rooted Collection, a limited edition premium jeans capsule meant to support US sustainably grown cotton in five Southern states. Each piece–the Alabama Jean, the Georgia Jean, the North Carolina Jean, the Tennessee Jean and the Texas Jean–uses fabrics made with cotton grown, milled, then cut and sewn in the United States and treated with a unique wash, as well as trim and patch details featuring the state’s silhouette and other embellishments.
The first line of foam-dyed jeans will be Wrangler’s most current action to lessen that environmental impact and save precious resources. Among the brand’s demonstrated sustainability activities are the ongoing work in U.S. sustainable cotton and a commitment to reduce water usage by five billion liters by 2020. According to Royo, applying indigo dye to raw denim with foam instead of water will eliminate the need for the tens of millions of gallons of water typically consumed by conventional wet-dye systems.
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail entered into a multi-store retail and e-commerce license agreement with American Eagle Outfitters Inc. in August 2017.
American Eagle is a $3.8-billion affordable premium denim and casual wear retailer from the US competing with brands such as Wrangler, Levis and Pepe. Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd is getting denim and casual wear American Eagle to India and expects the brand to be among the top three in this market in 5-7 years.
VF expects revenue for the 2019 fiscal year to rise between nine and 10 per cent, coming in between $13.45 billion (£9.91 billion) and $13.55 billion (£9.99 billion) looking ahead. It’s outdoor and action sports brands, which include Vans, The North Face and Timberland, saw sales increase 19 per cent. Vans continued to be its best performer with a 45 per cent rise in sales, while The North Face saw an 11 per cent rise.
Wayne Honeycutt, president and chief executive of the Soil Health Institute, said that, “I’m grateful Wrangler has taken up this cause, because the potential to transform agricultural lands with soil health practices is tremendous.” He added that,”If farmers adopt these practices globally, we’ll have much greater resiliency in our food and fibre production. We’ll also have cleaner water and air, and we can draw carbon out of the air to regenerate our soils for current and future generations.”
